Monday, September 27, 2010

There have been some interesting statistics floating around lately, such as how Apple makes such a large percentage of smartphone profits with a much smaller market percentage of sales (with the popular iPhone). Another one I came across recently is the market share of mobile ads.

Google and Apple are tied in first place with 21% each!!!

What surprised me was how Google and Apple each have more than Yahoo and Microsoft combined. Also, Nokia (with it's larege mobile phone sales volume, had a relatively small market share of mobile ads.

Regardless of how fancy a mobile device or smartphone can look, and how great the advertising for them is, nothing speaks a great truth than numbers.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Yes, Google just turned 12. Wow, almost a teenager. Like dealing with a child, Google will be going through puberty soon, and emotions might run high. Google will probably feel like they know more than the rest of us, and that none of us understand them and what they're going through. There might be some crying episodes for no apparent reason and possibly some quiet times too when Google just doesn't want to talk to anyone.

Google, as you deal with these growing times, we are here for you. Don't worry about your temporary awkwardness or zits, we know you will outgrow all of this. Just hang in there, stay close with your friends, and listen to your parent's advice.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

When it comes to sales of all smartphones, Apple doesn't actually make up a huge percentage of what people buy. In fact, Apple's iPhones only account for about 3% of all smartphones sold. True!

The pie-chart above shows the breakdown of smartphone sales for all the big players, and as you can see, Apple certainly isn't the biggest - not even in the top three! But wait, there's more... the story gets stranger.

Even though Apple's iPhone sales are a miniscule (tongue in cheek) 3% of all smartphone sales, Apple made a whopping 39% of all smartphone profits!

Nokia, Samsung and LG phones made up 2/3 of all sales, but only 1/3 of all profits!!!

It looks like Apple's business model of providing a pricier product works better than their competitor's plan of selling as many devices as possible. Of course, the iPhone has also been highly praised by most people that own one, even though it's one of the most expensive mobile devices out there!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Remember some story from a long time ago about Eve presenting Adam an apple and saying "eat this dear!" Even today, an apple can be very dangerous, especially when we are talking about the company Apple! When it comes to the mobile device market, it looks like kill or be killed!

It appears that Apple is buying as many shares as possible of a Swedish company called Polar Rose. This company holds numerous patents, one of which enables extracting 3D features from a 2D image. This is how they operate their face-recognition platform that accesses a library of photos, such as your iPhone pictures, Facebook or Twitter.

Apple can obviously reap the benefits of adding this technology to some of their existing/developing facial recognition software. Another bonus for Apple is that if they own this company, Google doesn't! Specifically, it won't be on the Android.

I suspect in the next year we will see more of these companies playing the offensive against one another just to stop the other from having something that they don't. I refer to this as the Cold War, Apple versus Google!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Flip Bubble is a very cool little iPhone app that takes whatever you type and either flips it upside down or puts a bubble around each character. You can then easily copy the text to paste into an SMS message, email, or post directly to Facebook or Twitter.

Make your friends hold their iPhones upside down to read your texts!

Cute little bubbles around each character!

This application is still free on the iTunes site, but the free trial ends very soon! Get this app today - it totally sʞɔıʞ ⓑⓤⓣⓣ !

Friday, September 17, 2010

About two weeks ago I blogged about an iPhone application that was soon to be released. In fact, I was even given a screenshot from the beta version of the game. Will It Fly was released on the iTunes store today! The idea of the iPhone game is to load the airplane up with as many people and boxes of cargo as you dare and see if it can still take-off and out-climb a mountain, bridge or volcano. The more you carry without crashing, the higher your score.

The game has two modes of play, basic and advanced. In the advanced version, you are given the wind (headwind or tailwind), temperature and runway elevation, and then you load up the aircraft and hope it survives the departure. You don't need to be an aerodynamicist to play the advanced version - the game even gives a basic description of how to play without being overly complicated. Headwind and cool temperature = good. Tailwind and hot temperature = bad! The lower the elevation, the better the aircraft will perform.

Try the basic first to get the hang of playing the game

The bridge is higher than it looks and watch the big drop-off at the beginning!

The volcano scenario is quite challenging in the advanced version. Watch the winds and hope the the temperature isn't too hot or you won't be able to carry much!

Originally developed by Big Fat Simulations for the computer, and adapted for the iPhone by Fluik Entertainment, this iPhone app has the ingredients and history to do very well. It certainly scores well on the Kick Butt - O - Meter!!!

This iPhone application got my attention right away. Remember the Commodore 64 that came out in early 1982? I LOVED that system so much at the time. I was amazed and what it would do. Fast forward almost 30 years and here we are.

The Commodore 64, available on the iTunes store, let's you play some of those nostalgic games once again, but on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. I get a real kick out of playing some of the retro games from the past.

Check out the old style keyboard!

I still like the look of the old games, but on your new apple devices it will look much better than it use to.

Friday, September 10, 2010

For anyone who still have an iPhone 3G and upgraded to iOS 4.0, you surely noticed how sluggish your iPhone's performance became. You may have even experienced the type of erratic behavior you'd expect from a 4.0 year old. Well iOS 4.1 has come to the rescue.

I tend to wait a week or so before loading updates so I get a chance to read reviews. Everything I've read, heard and experienced myself has been positive about iOS 4.1

The best quote I've heard is that "4.1 is everything 4.0 should have been!" I guess Apple can't hit one out of the park every time.

Have you ever wondered how quickly your Apple iPhone or iPod Touch downloads and uploads information? There is an application called Speed Test that tests your iPhone or iPod and tells you this information. It has been on the iTunes store since February!

The app lets you select download and uploads speeds to be shown in kbps, Mbps or kB/s. You can sort history of tests newest to oldest, or oldest to newest. You can select from many different download sites for comparison.

This app give you a great idea of what locations are good or not-so-good for iPhone download speed. This iPhone app is FREE, and best of all there are no annoying ads displayed.

This fantastic app helps you Kick Butt better with your iPhone and iPod!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Sometimes we get lucky and things just work out, but maybe in this case it was a combination of luck and persistance. I've blogged a few times about some fantastic online games and iPhone applications by Big Fat Simulations, and recently I mentioned that they might be working on an iPhone app for a game they made called Will It Fly?

I've been bugging them for a couple weeks to get some details about the project and I just scored. One of their programmers has kindly sent me a screenshot of the beta version of Will It Fly? I really really really wanted a screenshot of the iPhone game in play, but I didn't expect to actually get it, especially before being released on the iTunes store.

Here's a shot of a cargo plane loaded-up trying to outclimb a mountain!

From the shot above, it looks quite similar to the online game that keeps score and has challenges such as different wind directions and strengths, and the option to load as many passengers and as much baggage as you dare! Just watch out for mountains, volcanos, bridges and iPhone towers!

If they send this in to Apple soon we shouldn't have to wait too long for this iPhone game to be avaible. I plan to write an update when we find out more!

Airport Madness Mobile is an iPhone version of the successful Airport Madness series initially created for the PC by Big Fat Simulations. Soon after the initial Airport Madness was released they made Airport Madness 2, then Airport Madness 3, each offering far more than the previous versions and exponential in popularity also.

Developed by the teamwork of Big Fat Simulations and Fluik Entertainment, two companies with proven track records in their own fields of expertise, Airport Madness builds upon an already popular PC game and brings it to the iPhone. Will we see this on the iPad sometime soon??? I hope so!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

This was one of the first iPhone games I blogged about and after a year I'm still playing it. Moto X Mayhem is a fun iPhone app where you ride a dirtbike over different terrain, take jumps, go through tunnels and try to reach the end.

Here is an example of completing a jump!

As well as some great graphics, there are some funny sound effects when the biker does a wipe out! You can actually hear him/her grunt! Using Autorotation (rotation transformation) on your iPhone, you can control the pitch of the bike and even complete a loop if you go off a jump.

As you can see from the pictures above, the artwork is amazing - about as good as you could get on an iPhone. Rich is colors and smooth in play, this addictive game has great sounds to accompany some fast-paced action. Fluik Entertainment has again brought us one of the best made iPhone games available today!

I've decided to add some screenshots of some great iPhone and iPad games I've blogged about. There are plenty to choose from at the iTunes store but these in particular are well made with great grahics, sounds, gameplay and run well on your mobile device!

Friday, September 3, 2010

I'm amazed at how handy my iPhone has been to me on trips the last couple of years. Not only can I use my mobile device to check in electronically at the airport and navigate around a new town, but I can book my hotel and airline tickets with my iPhone too.

I've just found an iPhone application on the iTunes store that has made planning a trip even more exciting. Fotopedia provides you a visual journey across the 890 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. With maps and some incredible pictures, this is a great app to help you plan which places to visit, and provide a huge amount of information once you've arrived.

This great application is free for the iPhone and the iPad, making your travel plans affordable and exciting. So download it today and Kick Butt!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Will it fly is the big question indeed! The game Will it fly, another bigfatsimulations project, has been around a while and was made for your home computer. I'm going to do a little more investigating but it looks like there might be some development happening in the Apple related department... ie, you might be able to play it sooner than later on your iPhone or iPad.

There isn't anything about it at the iTunes store yet, or on the bigfat blog, but they were advertising for coders... just saying !!!!

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Another fantastic iPhone application developed by Fluik Entertainment is Funner Gunner. I played Asteroids as a kid and this well made app brings games like this to the year 2010 with class. Looks like they are working on developing this game for the big screen... yes... the iPad.

This is one of the best iphone applications I've seen in a while. I love music and when I want to know the name of the artist who sings a song, I use Soundhound to search out that information.

This great app is faster than any other app I've seen at determining the name and singer of a song. A quick search at the Apple iTunes store and Soundhound has both a free version and a more advance paid version, available for the iPhone and iPad!

It easily links to iTunes so you can quickly purchase a song to keep on your mobile device. Well worth the money, this application kicks butt!

Monday, July 5, 2010

If you've managed to open up your laptop and turn it on all by yourself, then you've probably also heard of Farmville. FarmVille is the wildly popular game on Facebook, and now there is FarmVille for your iPhone.

I must admit I'm not a big fan of the game but that might be because I'm not very good at it. The iTunes store also has a FarmVille Guide and a FarmVille Secrets Exposed, which might improve my playing.

Friday, July 2, 2010

A while ago I wrote about a new iPhone game Airport Madness Mobile that was taken from the very popular Airport Madness game made for PC's. They just released the latest version of the game called Airport Madness 3.

The full version has great graphics and gives you the flexibility to decide on crossing or parallel runways. You can choose complexity levels and different scenarios. There are even emergencies and weather that come into play.

It will be interesting to see if the latest game, Airport Madness 3, is a huge success like the other versions, and if it ever comes out on the iPhone or iPad.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

I thought it was appropriate to mention something about Canada Day. July 1st is the anniversary date of the 1867 Constitution Act, in essense, Canada's birthday. There is even an iPhone application that is great for just this day.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

If you are as bad at texting as I am, you will love this app. Dragon Dictation is an easy-to-use voice recognition application that turns your voice into text or email. Just speak clearly and the software application types the words out for you. You can even edit afterwards.

This Kick Butt application is available for your iPhone and iPad, and both apps are free at the iTunes store.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

I must admit, I've had never bought anything on eBay until just recently. I just downloaded eBay Mobile, the free iPhone application that lets you search and bid for items as you normally would on a computer. The big advantage of this great app is that you can do all of this on the fly. As your iPhone is mobile, so are all the applications you have loaded.

So if you are bidding on an item there is no need to sneak away to get online and check it out, or outbid someone else for that must have item. Just a quick and easy check with your iPhone and your done.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Soundhound is the fastest music recognition iPhone application I have ever seen. I like Shazam but this kicks its butt big time. Sometimes it will identify a song within a few seconds, instead of listening for a preset time and then sending it in for verification.

The latest version lets you bounce back and forth between Soundhound and iTunes for faster shopping of songs too! They also have a free version here if you want to try it out first, but it's worth spending the money on the full version.

Soundhound is easy to you use, and I've yet to find a song it doesn't know!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Here is a great little application called Project 365. It allows you to take a picture every day of the year, as you normally do with your iPhone, and store it like a photo album for the year. The no-add version Project 365 Pro also lets you view it as a slideshow, and it costs just 99 cents.

Whether you want to record your child's first year, the year leading up to a wedding, the view from the same place every day or compare the yearly weather, Project 365 is for you. It allows you to crop images, add captions and view the day and year of the picture.

It's a great way to document one year of your life and get better at taking pictures at the same time. So get this app, get out your iPhone and take a new picture every day.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

I must admit I was resisting the iPad for a while because I have an iPhone and a MacBook Pro, so I really didn't see any reason for me to get an iPad. Last week in Vegas, I had a chance to play with an iPad, and right away I fell in love. What a great little device. I'm sure in the near future we will look back and laugh at the times we sat with a laptop... on our lap! Come on, it looks ridiculous having a laptop balanced on our knees, mouse on the side and trying to surf at the same time - just give up on trying to type anything.

I don't think the iPad will ever replace my MacBook, but it will get used plenty of times in place of it. For starters the screen is great. I've often moved my fingers to the screen to "stretch" the image instinctively as I would with my iPhone, to remember than I can't do that. Well with the iPad I can. Whether I want to read a book, read a blog, check the news, use an app or watch a show, the iPad is fantastic. It is simple to travel with, whether packed or carried by hand onto an airplane. I could go away and take only the iPad... and a swimsuit. No need for my laptop. Sorry Mr Kindle - you stay at home too.

The biggest downfall of the iPad is the lack of flash. No, not the camera flash, but the kind many websites still have. Some websites will only partially work on the iPad, and some flash games won't work at all. You can even buy a little portable keypad for any long typing you need to do. Otherwise it's like typing on the iPhone, except the numbers and letters are bigger.

Not a bad little package. The iPad definitely kicks some serious butt!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

One little feature I really liked about the iPhone 3GS over the regular iPhone 3G, was the battery life percentage displayed beside the battery icon at the top right of my iPhone.

When my wife showed me a new iPhone application she got called Battery Doctor. I mentioned that because I had the 3GS, I would have no need for it. Wow, was I ever wrong. First of all, never try and tell your wife that you know something she doesn't, second, this iPhone app does plenty more than I thought.

Some of the extra cool battery features you get for just 99 cents:-Display of how much talk time you have left-How long you can surf the internet-How long you can be on U tube-Audio playback time-Bluetooth-Playing 2D and 3D games-Taking photos-Standby time

and the best of all.... time to recharge back to 100%

There are also some tips on how to maximize battery life, a log of recharging, and you can even select themes for the display.

Friday, May 21, 2010

I found a Canadian weather application at the iTunes store that is a big improvement over the regular weather app on your iPhone. Atmospherique shows the weather for many cities, small and large, across a vast country - CANADA!!!

The weather conditions are taken from the best source available - Environment Canada - ensuring the information you get is accurate, up to date, and considering some remote locations... available!

At a glance you can quickly see current conditions and temperature, a six day forecast with pictures, precipitation and temperature ranges. As well as showing pressure, humidity, windchill factor and gusts, I especially like the sunrise and sunset times. There is even a pie chart showing daytime vs nightime.

There are options to show information in English or French and temperature can be displayed in Celsius, Fahrenheit or Calvin. Right now it's 290K, so I can safely leave my jacket behind.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Don't let the title fool you, this app is fun. I use to be a huge fan of scrabble when I was a kid. When a scrabble-like game came out of facebook, I enjoyed that too. Now with Words With Friends I can play a word game on my iPhone.

The game allows you to play with friends, strangers, or just take your time and play as a single to challenge yourself.

Reading the comments it sounds like they've been working out some bugs, which happens!

It's funny how new technologies can help revive the concept of a game that had long since become near extinct! There are plenty of games and iPhone applications at the iTunes store that have done just that.

Friday, April 23, 2010

From the maker of Airport Madness and Airport Madness 2, Airport Madness Mobile was released yesterday on the iTunes store for your iPhone or iPod Touch device.

I won't sugar coat this next point, it isn't free but it is VERY GOOD!

"You land a million planes safely. Then you have one little midair collision and you never hear the end of it." Air Traffic Controller. New York TRACON

Have you ever wondered what it must be like to work the world's most stressful job? Well now is your chance to get a feel for it, and no-one will get hurt (just your thumbs)! Fantastic graphics and sound effects.

Once you've had a chance to master the busy daytime traffic, there are some other challenges thrown at you, like working the nightshift!

Air Traffic Controllers are only allowed 3 strikes and they're out... out of a job that is! Assuming you can make it this far, there is even bad weather to contend with, if you can handle the stress. The better you are at the game, the more your pay goes up. How much can you make?

Big Fat Simulations has plenty of experience making games for your PC, and now they've partnered with Fluik Entertainment to develop Airport Madness Mobile for your iPhone. The only question is, do you have the nerves of steel required to handle this iPhone game that Kicks Butt!

One of the more elaborate iPhone games I've come across lately is called Pik's Revenge. This is not the kind of game you only play once for 5 minutes and never again - this game has a huge number of levels and variations that it will keep any child or adult engaged for a long time. Not just that, but you can keep coming back to it and not be bored!

Here is a screen shot from one of the levels in Pik's Revenge

This game also has fantastic graphics and sound effects that compliment the adventures you are sure to have while playing. There are multi-levels within each Episode, giving you plenty of opportunities for excitement. Visit Fluik Entertainment to see pictures and videos from this game and what other games they have developed.